Thursday, January 5, 2012

MOH adventure - part 2

This series deserves more than just one post and also more than just a post by me. I am certain that you will hear, through SwagHunter blog, from others involved in this series. My new friend, the not so friendly cow, Mr. Cache Cow, also deserves more mentions and one more photo drop in. This is him to the right, for those of you who have spent way too much time on desert roads, caching and sucking dirt and dust into your brain to recognize him from the previous post.

There are things about our trip that I want to make mention of that may be of some help to anyone considering this adventure. First, it is an adventure. I think that anytime you take on a series of 100 caches, in one day, you must consider it an adventure. Ya just don't know what you will find out in the middle of nowhere. We experienced cows, mud, dusty air and the fore mentioned Mr. Cache Cow. All of these things will change depending on the day. Some things won't. Because of the time of the year and weather conditions, we didn't encounter snakes, scorpions and other assorted creatures but I am sure were sleeping close by just waiting for the spring time cachers.

The trail starts just off the freeway so there is easy access. If you start to the West end as we did, you will be less than 20 miles from Las Cruces, New Mexico. The East end is less than 10 miles from the outskirts of Las Cruces.. Obviously there are no gas stations on this route so you best be filled up and have plenty of water. We had good cell service most of the way; the worst being just toward the end; the last few miles. Know your way out before you head in. Our GPS wanted to take us the wrong direction. Nice that it was just getting dark and we could still see our way out.

If you are staying the night in Las Cruces I would highly recommend the Motel 6 Las Cruces Telshor, on Summit Court. I had not stayed in a Motel 6 in over 20 years and some extenuating circumstances brought us to this one. Yes - it is simple and lacks the frills but it has an indoor pool and spa. It was exceptionally clean and had great water pressure, to wash off the day's grit. And I can't say enough about the staff. On front desk person was remarkable. She helped us out, with a smile on her face, more readily than any other staffer had in past hotels that would boast to be 'high end or elite'. Her name is Rebecca and if you are ever in the area you should go by and say hello and ask her how the caching is going for her.

Rebecca had never hear of geocaching until we arrived at the front desk. She had only listened to a little about what we had done that day when she came to the conclusion that this would be the perfect thing to share with her sons. She is a single mother and like many of us, has to find a way to stretch our time and funds to accommodate the needs of our kids. One of the biggest needs being recreational activities and Geocaching qualifies as that. Rebecca told us that she would be off work at a little after 11 that night and would love to go on a night cache. It's New Year's Eve and what would be a better way to kick off the new year !

SchnauzerQueen and I grabbed a bite to eat and took off for the Texas border that is only about15 minutes from the hotel to get our first Texas caches. It was dark and cold but so worth it. In less than 45 minutes we found a TB hotel and a micro, just across the border. Quick and sweet. Texas is now on our list of states covered and we are on our way back to a much needed hot shower.

At about 11:30 we got the knock on the door to find Rebecca ready to rock and roll, with one little compromise. She wanted to bring in the new year with her co-worker who had taken her place at the front desk. SchnauzerQueen had to drag herself out of the warm, cozy covers and shake off the aching muscles to start all over again. Who would have thought that after a nice warm shower she would be out and searching again? Not the SQueen.

We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us at the front desk - Rebecca had prepared each of us a little handful of grapes. 12 to be exact. She wanted us all to share her family tradition of counting down the last 12 minutes of the year with a wish and a grape, for each of the up coming 12 months. Well, the grapes were gone, the countdown was done, the toast to new friends was complete and we were out the door, in search of our first cache of the 2012.

The 3 of us climbed walls, stumbled in rocks and stuck our fingers in many small areas that they didn't belong for well over 30 minutes before abandoning the effort. It's tough to concede to a loss on the first of the year. Off we went to the next attempt, not much of a drive away. This one was in a some what high traffic area so there was a bit of a challenge to look inconspicuous, especially with Rebecca giggling and bouncing around with excitement the entire time. She reassured us that she knows many of the police officers in the area, because she had lived in the are for a long time and not for some dark past, so even if we had the cops called on us we would have a 'get out of jail free' card. Always a good thing to know the law. After about 20 minutes this neat little TB hotel was found, and by Rebecca ! It was perfect !

That was the end of the night, the beginning of a new year and also the beginning of a neat friendship. I am sure that we will compare caching notes with each other in the future. And REALLY! if you are ever in the area you should stop by and say Hi to Rebecca.

ONE MORE THING - I have to mention that there is a Ruby Tuesdays close by that actually delivers to that hotel. Great menu with a huge variety of affordable food. What more can you ask for?